BCG Federal Corporation (47QRCA23R0006)

B-421923 Nov 30, 2023 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights BCG Federal Corporation, of Washington, D.C., protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. 47QRCA23R0006, issued by the General Services Administration (GSA) and referred to as the "One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services Plus (OASIS+)" unrestricted solicitation. Agency Report (AR) Tab 1, Contracting Officer's Statement (COS) at 1; see AR, Tab 2, RFP. BCG challenges the solicitation's requirement that offerors must provide cost breakdown information for their proposed labor rates. Protest at 2. We deny the protest. View Decision DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. The entire decision has now been approved for public release. Decision Matter of: BCG Federal Corporation File: B-421923 Date: November 30, 2023 Jennifer S. Zucker, Esq., Jeffery M. Chiow, Esq., Christopher M. O'Brien, Esq., and Eleanor M. Ross, Esq., Greenberg Traurig, LLP, for the protester. Jared Sammons, Esq., General Services Administration, for the agency. Glenn G. Wolcott, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Due to the specific characteristics of the agency's requirements, the agency reasonably determined that requiring offerors to provide cost breakdown information for their proposed labor rates was the only acceptable method for evaluating cost/price reasonableness. 2. Requirement that offerors provide cost breakdown information for their proposed labor rates does not violate the statutory preference for acquisition of commercial items. DECISION BCG Federal Corporation, of Washington, D.C., protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. 47QRCA23R0006, issued by the General Services Administration (GSA) and referred to as the “One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services Plus (OASIS+)” unrestricted solicitation.[1] Agency Report (AR) Tab 1, Contracting Officer's Statement (COS) at 1;[2] see AR, Tab 2, RFP. BCG challenges the solicitation's requirement that offerors must provide cost breakdown information for their proposed labor rates. Protest at 2.[3] We deny the protest. BACKGROUND On June 15, 2023, GSA issued the solicitation, seeking proposed labor rates for 20 labor categories covering eight “domains.”[4] See RFP at 21-35. The agency states that it selected a limited number of commonly used, broadly defined labor categories so that they would be “universally acceptable” across all domains.[5] COS at 8; see AR, Tab 8, Pricing Strategy at 58. The solicitation contemplates the award of an unlimited number of IDIQ contracts[6] under which task orders for both commercial and non-commercial services[7] will be issued by federal agencies across the government.[8] The solicitation also provides that ordering contracting officers may issue all types of task orders, including fixedprice, cost-reimbursement, time-and-materials, and labor-hour task orders.[9] Based on the agency's market research, which included consideration of data from prior procurements,[10] the agency concluded that subsequent task orders under the OASIS+ contracts will be for “predominantly non-commercial services.”[11] AR, Tab 10, Commerciality Determination at 1-3. Accordingly, the agency determined that this procurement does not meet the requirements to be considered a commercial item procurement.[12] Id.; see FAR 12.102(a). The agency states that its original acquisition strategy did not include evaluation of cost/price at the IDIQ level. COS at 2. In this regard, the agency explains that it initially intended to use GSA's “Class Deviation DC-2020-14,” which is “based on Section 876 of the National Defense Authorization Act . . . [and] allows for the dismissal of consideration of cost/price as an evaluation factor for the award of certain . . . IDIQ multiple award contracts.” Id. However, in April 2023, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC) issued a decision which limited application of this class deviation to IDIQ contracts that “clearly feature time-and-materials and labor-hour task orders.” See AR, Tab 9, SH Synergy, LLC v. United States, 165 Fed Cl. 745 (Apr. 2023) at 68. Following that COFC decision, the agency changed its pricing strategy to require that all offerors submit cost/price information from which the agency will assess price reasonableness.[13] Id. Specifically, the solicitation provides that each offeror must: propose fully burdened labor rates for each of the 20 labor categories; identify its direct labor rates, indirect rates (including fringe benefits, overhead, and general and administrative expenses), and profit;[14] and submit a basis of estimate. RFP at 186-191.